Things are definitely looking up when I give myself the time and space to look to the sky.
Spending time cloud watching is always a good indication to/ for myself that I’m slowing down, that I’m breathing that little bit deeper, than I’m present.
When clouds go missing from my radar, from my daily view then it’s time to worry.
As it’s another indication that I’m not taking my medicine, that I’m allowing the shit of this world to overtake me, to bog me down.
Cloud watching, cloud appreciation is such a simple task, gift to myself and yet the loss of it, can mean the loss of self.
I booked up on a whim. Last minute. I needed to get away. I needed to have some sun after months of rain.
When I jetted off in March we’d had rain everyday of the year so far in 2026.
I gave myself a few days in Faro, Portugal. My soul thanked me for it too.
Cheap holiday, with a balcony off my room and the sun just there was needed. And appreciated. The warmth helped me relax and unfold, slow down and appreciate the basic things like good food and wine. And a view.
What I found there was inspiration in the smallest and basic of places.
Their tiles. Inside and outside of their buildings. I made a collection of them. Here’s only a few.
Tonight is a full moon. The full Sap moon. It’s an invitation to connect with that quickening energy within. Our inner rising. What’s coming to the surface at the time after hibernation?
I’m ready to let go of winter and embrace spring. I feel this cold season has dragged on long enough, dragging my energy down with it.
So thinking on this full sap moon and the transition between seasons from winter to spring, I’m ready to let go of all the heaviness of sluggish energy and thinking. I’m ready to shed some coats and skins and step into the light and rising temperatures.
What I’m now ready to call/invite in a bit more lighter energy. A more positive, playful, risk taking energy.
I’m ready to open a bit more like the trees buds of spring, slowly unpicking myself from the debris of a rough winter and grow into possibilities and alternative ways of being.
Yesterday marked 50 days of my creative sketchbook practice. 50 days of consistently turning up to the page to play and experiment.
What I’m learning is that I can trust myself to turn up for myself. I’m learning that my practice muscles can be strengthened. I’m learning that I love creating colour fields. It like what I create with visual journaling but different.
Here with these colour fields, there’s layers built up and then stripped back. Marked into. Scratched away to leave textures I like to see and feel. This practice is definitely expanding my palimpsest exploration and obsession.
I’m learning that I want this my creativity to be the main focus of my day and everything else is the add on, not the priority. Not the main meal. My creativity is my life source/force.
I’m practicing taking my creative sketchbook practice into my life. The attitudes, the risk-taking, the consistency, the trust in self and my art-making, these values and practices I’m carrying with me throughout my day, no matter who I come into contact with.
This creative sketchbook practice keeps me centred and focused on my feelings of joy and abundance. This practice keeps me present and checked in with myself, moment to moment.
On top of my visual journaling practice, this safe space of play and to {BE} me, is enough. Is more than enough to fill my day with bliss and connection. A practice that I’m finding opens up doors inside and outside of me, for me and others.
This is one of my favourite images from my extensive collection.
I know exactly when and where it was taken. Westfjords Residency, Iceland, Feb/March 2017.
This was my go to breakfast. Coffee, cornflakes and Skyr, Icelandic protein enriched yogurt. I love the colours, the composition. The items included. But most of all, I love the memories and feelings just looking at this image evokes.
It takes me back to that time of wonder and discovery during my second time to Iceland. A residency I gifted to myself, writing the application while teaching temporally; frustrated, longing to get out and create.
I stayed for two weeks in the shadows of the mountains, knee deep in snow most days until the thaw came with some greening of the landscape.
I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing there back then. I just knew in my body that I needed to get away, gain inspiration from the landscape and {BE}.
I might not have completed much when I was out there, but I know when I returned the experience shifted my creativity and how I saw myself as a creative.
I saw glimmers of the Northern Lights during this retreat. Pale creamy wisps and trails in a dark navy sky. It was magical and a mystery.
This makes me think about my art-making practice and how most of the time I’m working in the dark, moving out of my comfort zone into the unknown, looking and listening hoping to catch a glimpses of magic and mystery in the process.
What’s created on the page, like this photography, is an archive, a record which when looked upon brings to the surface all the memories and feelings of the process, the experience once again experienced to the full with wonder and a smile.
Living Wild Studios 